Upon leaving school in 1977, Paul Harper worked briefly on Taurapa Station as a shepherd but with the early loss of his father took over the running of the family farm, The Pines, at Matapiro early in 1978.

Paul has lived on and farmed this block since. Now comprising 470 hectares, it has been leased to the Apatu farming group for the last three years.

Paul started in rural real estate in Hawke’s Bay nine years ago selling farms and some horticulture and lifestyle blocks with the emphasis being on farms. He enjoys the challenge of helping farmers make their next move be they selling or buying and making the process as easy and seamless as possible.

Paul is still very much involved with the farming sector through a lifetime of work and interaction with rural people and those who service the sector.  On a personal level, he enjoys access onto the home farm with regard to ongoing projects be they tree planting of retired areas or general R&M when it suits and time allows.  He also has a 580 hectare block in Pongaroa, in partnership with his daughter and son-in-law and he enjoys heading down to lend a hand when needed.

Married to Cyndy, he has two other children, sons, both in finance. Tom is a Senior Rural Manager with Westpac in Australia and Matt works for OM Financial in Auckland.

Rural Hawke’s Bay is very important to Paul and he looks forward to working with Doug Smith to achieve great results for their clients.